


- This world has changed... -

by mmt_regina_nox



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blaise knows Pansy better than anyone, Bonding, But then so is Ron, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, HP: EWE, Hermione is a Good Friend, Hogwarts Eighth Year, I'm Bad At Tagging, Love, M/M, Our boys know how to flirt each other, Pansy is an emotional wreck, Post-War, Romance, Team Bonding, but I'm loving it, it's like instant, surprise-surprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 05:03:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10455654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmt_regina_nox/pseuds/mmt_regina_nox
Summary: None of them were quite the same after the war, not really.The changes were almost imperceptible to people who weren't close to them, but to those who truly knew them, those very same changes were glaringly obvious.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I'm posting in AO3, so I hope I'm doing this right!  
> This is a plot bunny that has been hopping around my brain for quite some time now... Last night, I got down and wrote it out...!  
> Leave a comment and tell me what you think! :)
> 
>  **EDIT:** I edited the story a bit, fixed some mistakes and added some more things. Hope you'll like them!

None of them were quite the same after the war, not really.  
The changes were almost imperceptible to people who weren't close to them, but to those who truly knew them, those very same changes were glaringly obvious.  
They, before anyone and everyone else, saw them first.  
They had changed.  
Which was probably the reason why finding themselves in the same compartment on Hogwarts Express, with the company of Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, came as little to not surprising at all.  
"So", said Draco, leaning lightly against Harry, "eighth year Hogwarts, huh? It feels kinda weird after everything, doesn't it?". Harry nodded while Ron and Zabini mumbled their consents and Pansy remained silent. It was Hermione who spoke next, after a few rather heavy and uncomfortable seconds.  
"You know what? It's actually not that bad", she stated with certainty. Everyone stared at her in confusion.  
"What do you mean, 'Mione?", asked Ron. Sitting up straighter, Hermione fixed the collar of her shirt and cleared her throat.  
"Well", she began, "this is the very first year that will be normal for everyone". At the continued expressions of confusion, she explained further.  
"Don't you see? Ever since we started Hogwarts, there has always been something or other happening where Voldemort was involved". She chose to ignore Pansy's yelp and the twin pained expressions on Draco and Zabini's faces. "But", she continued, "since he has finally been defeated, this year is going to be different. It's going to be perfectly normal! For once, we get to be regular teenagers, we get to enjoy our romances, we get to visit Hogsmeade and not worry about danger lurking in every corner, we get to do whatever the hell we want! The only thing we will have to worry about is our N.E.W.T.s, and even that seems like a piece of cake, after all the hell that we've been through!", she finished excitedly, unable to suppress her smile. She was personally looking forward to all that and more!  
It took a while before anyone spoke up again. This time, it was Harry who broke the silence.  
"I can't believe I'm going back to Hogwarts without constantly worrying about Vold - him", he amended, having already noticed the three Slytherins' reactions to that particular name, "I mean, it feels almost... surreal", he trailed off.  
"What do you mean by that?", Draco asked, properly intrigued by his choice of words. Harry sighed and turned to look at him.  
"Um, well... you see... I've been fighting him for so long, sometimes I can hardly believe it's all over. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. Some days I'm afraid that I will wake up in that tent and realise that it's not over, that I haven't really managed to do much, except running around in circles and hauling my two best friends along, when they should have been with their families, and Ron should have spent Christmas wearing one of his Mum's wonderful hand-knitted jumpers, which he absolutely hates, and drinking eggnog with his Dad, and Hermione shouldn't have had to obliviate her parents just to keep them safe, and I should have... hell, I should have just died that damned Halloween night, eighteen years ago, and save everyone all this trouble, all this loss, all this fucking heartache...", Harry ranted on and on, tears streaming down his face, glasses blurry, shoulders shaking with each sob, oblivious to the shocked stares and the tears of everyone else, now looking at him in a completely different light.  
Harry only registered a pair of arms encircling him, and a beating heart beneath a flat chest as he was being pulled into a hug, and his own arms wrapping around a long, lithe body, and the soft, musky scent as he buried his face in the crevice of a neck, and the nonsense whispered by a voice he knew all too well, soothing and comforting him, and a single, soft kiss atop his head.  
This was all that Draco could do - he could only hold Harry and comfort him as he spilled his heart out. He was stunned - he, as a child, had never stopped to think what it felt like for a boy of his own age to be coming back to Hogwarts year after year, only to have to face unspeakable horrors that no child should ever have to face, how it felt to lose the people you love, how it felt to constantly question your own worth, how it felt to actually be in Harry Potter's shoes.  
No. All he ever thought about was that Potter had it way too easy, that he had all these friends and all that fame, why would he complain? But, in light of recent events, Draco had come to realise that Harry Potter was VASTLY different than what he'd made him out to be.  
Hermione and Ron were in each other's arms, bawling their eyes out over Harry's outbreak. However, they were also relieved - Harry had been keeping his emotions bottled up since the end of the war, so this thing right here was a long time coming. Not to mention, it was so much better that it had happened here, among people who truly understood his struggle, rather than somewhere in the school for all the world to see. Nope. Harry didn't need nor did he deserve that, not after the hell he'd been through.  
Pansy was speechless - never had she expected to witness Potter pour his heart out like this. Then again, he was a sentimental Gryffindor, but still - she had always thought of him as someone rather cool and collected for being so insanely famous. Nope, this wasn't the Potter she'd always thought.  
Blaise, on the other hand, was watching Potter with a sense of awe - this man right there, the incredibly brave man who defeated You-Know-Who, had melted away into a broken soul who had gone through too much and finally broke down. Truth be told, Blaise had never really paid him any mind, except for when Draco would bring him up, which had been... well, a little too often for his liking. He was so... so different from what everyone had said about him...!  
"This is... pretty fucking amazing, if you think about it", said Pansy with a little laugh, having spoken for the first time since they'd all sat together in the compartment.  
"How's that?", asked Ron, perplexed by her words.  
"Er, well, I... um...", Pansy stuttered, unsure how to continue. Luckily, Blaise jumped to her rescue, as usual.  
"What Pans means, is that here we all are, alive and, uh, fairly well, but not quite, and we are opening our hearts to each other as if we've been friends since forever. Huh... Come to think of it, it really is amazing", he explained, and Pansy squeezed his hand and gave a grateful smile. Blaise had always been able to read her like an open book, which sometimes was disconcerting, but other times, like now, she was infinitely glad for it.  
"Er, well... since apparently we are all on a heart-spilling session, I must admit it feels good hanging out with you guys...", admitted Ron, at which everyone gasped.  
"What? It's true!", he defended himself.  
"I just... I never thought you would ever want to hang out with me, especially since...", Pansy trailed off in uncertainty.  
"Especially since what?", asked Ron cautiously. Pansy visibly swallowed and tried to loosen the collar of her blouse.  
"Especially since I tried to... to sell you off to You-Know-Who, just so I could save my own sorry ass", she admitted, turning a deep shade of red and feeling tears welling up and threatening to spill over. Finding herself unable to look the Gryffindors in the eyes, she cast her own eyes on the floor.  
"Pansy...", whispered Hermione, but Pansy refused to look up. Hermione leaned forward and put a hand under the other girl's chin, forcing her to meet her gaze.  
"Pansy, it's alright. We understand. And... we have already forgiven you", she stated simply, looking at her friends for confirmation. At their mutual nods, she offered a warm smile to the other girl.  
"But, how?! How do you understand?! How do you forgive me?! What if the others had handed you over to that... that monster?? You could have died, all three of you, and it would have been entirely my fault! Do you have any idea how much I hate myself for saying those words? They will never stop haunting me! So tell me, how are you able to forgive me? HOW?!?", Pansy cried out indignantly, no longer able to hold back the tears or the pain and the regret over her actions.  
Hermione smiled softly and pulled her into a big hug.  
"Because we're all different people", she replied and everyone conceded without hesitation.  
"Well, I, for one, am not the same Draco Malfoy I was when I started school. Merlin's balls, I haven't been the same since sixth year", stated Draco, his voice thick with emotion. Harry sat a bit straighter and gazed at him, a look of admiration on his face.  
"No, you're not the same... and I think I like this Draco better. At least, he lets me hold him", he said with a wink, at which the girls giggled. Draco gasped.  
"My, oh my! Harry James Potter, are you flirting with me?", he asked in mock shock, utterly unable to hide his amusement at the turn of the conversation. Harry's smirk turned into a bright smile, which promptly melted Draco's heart.  
“You know my full name”, Harry said with a soft gasp. Draco smiled and caressed the side of Harry’s face with his right hand, softly trailing his fingertips from Harry’s temples to the end of his jawline. His heart did a little back-flip at the visible shudder that raced through the other boy (no, man – because Harry was a man now, an adult, as they all were).  
“Well, of course I do, I knew everything about you since before I even met you, Harry. Before coming to Hogwarts in our first year, all I could think about was how I was going to become your best friend and show you around in the manor, and play with you when you’d be staying over in the Christmas and summer holidays, and owling you about every detrimental thing that would happen to me while we were apart. And then I actually met you and… and you rejected me, and, well… the rest is well known...”, Draco trailed off, his eyes downcast, his voice taking on a sad and melancholy tone as he remembered his enthusiasm about meeting the fabled Boy-Who-Lived and his crushed heart afterwards, when he’d been blatantly rejected by the one person he’d ever truly wanted to become best friends with.  
Harry sighed and sat up more properly, then he lifted Draco’s chin to force him to look in his eyes.  
“We were young, Draco. We were young and stupid. I was stupid. I was stupid for not having realized all these years what an amazing person you are and how much you actually care about the people you love, for not noticing how lonely you were, for realizing that all you have ever wanted was to be my friend”, he said softly, leaning his forehead on Draco’s, while gazing into those strikingly beautiful eyes that glittered with unshed tears like molten silver and stardust. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on.  
“Even more so, I should have realized that I never really hated you. I should have known sooner that my obsession with you was an undeniably huge, like the-size-of-Antarctica huge crush on you”, he stopped briefly, to gauge Draco’s reaction to this revelation. The other man’s eyes were wide and his expression was awed, but he was obviously waiting for Harry to carry on, which he did.  
Leaning back, he extended his right hand for a handshake.  
“So, what do you say we make a fresh start? Hello, sir, my name is Harry Potter and I’m in love with you”, he offered, smiling warmly.  
Draco was in a stupor like no other. Had Harry ever been this level of amazing before? He doubted it. He’d never seen him so soft and warm, so friendly and… and so in love with him?! Oh, Merlin…!  
Taking Harry’s hand in his own, Draco grinned widely at him.  
“Hello, mister Potter, I’m Draco Malfoy and… well, this is quite the coincidence, because I happen to be in love with you, too! And a date with you, sir, would be most appreciated, if I may say so myself…!”, he replied with a wink, watching Harry as his whole face lit up like a firework in progress.  
"Actually, mister Malfoy, I was thinking of courting you, as is customary. But, if outright flirtation and dating is what your person desires, then so be it", Harry replied with a wicked glint in his eyes.  
The two boys were oblivious to what was happening around them - all the others were watching them with tears of joy and wide smiles, infinitely happy that finally, FINALLY, after all these years, these two were getting over their rivalry and growing closer together.  
"Ah, mister Potter, I am impossibly flattered by your attention to mine own person! Why, yes, you may be as outrageously flirtatious with me as you wish, sir", came Draco's rather pompous reply, the last part of which was muffled as a pair of soft lips touched his own and he responded immediately, throwing his arms around Harry's neck as the other man pulled him onto his lap and deepened the kiss, amongst everyone's cheers and wolf-calls.  
Pansy leaned against Blaised and sighed happily, glad that Draco had finally gotten his man. Blaise kissed her forehead and looked at her fondly - he was counting his blessings, and Pansy being his girlfriend was one of them. Draco being his best friend was another. Generally speaking, he had a lot to be thankful for...  
Ron was holding his own girlfriend and laughing at the new couple's shameless shenanigans. He and Hermione had known for a long time that Harry had a huge crush on Draco, but had not mentioned it until a few months ago, at which Harry admitted the truth, and he had also admitted that that was the reason he and Ginny couldn't and wouldn’t ever work. However, they were still good friends. Ron really loved Harry, and seeing him truly happy after so many things he'd been through, was the best feeling in the world.  
Hermione was having pretty much the same thoughts as Ron, thinking that Harry deserved all the happiness in the world, and having found it in Malfoy only seemed right. Because, let's face it, the war had altered them and their respective outlooks on life irreversibly, and it was probably for the best.  
This world has changed... and so have they.

~*~*~*~  
THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does, wonderful author and person that she is. I just like having a bit of fun with the characters, is all! ;)


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